Anthony's Soap Box

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

As many of you know or will shortly will find out, I am a strong proponent of the police and law enforcement. However I am a stronger proponent of the right to bear arms and to be left the hell alone by my officers. This video is a classic schooling of an officer who very well may have not paid attention to his law classes.

To be clear, the officer MUST suspect that you have been involved in some sort of criminal activity to just stop you with your firearm lawfully carried. He or she cannot simply stop you like the officer in the video did. Nor do yo have a duty to hand over your ID or even give your name if you are innocently going about your business with your weapon.

Like I said, I will cooperate with any LAWFUL order but simply stopping me because I happen to have a firearm on my person without any other reason is NOT LAWFUL and I am well within my rights to walk away.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

"CARY, N.C. — With uniformed officers at every exit, Wake County school board member Debra Goldman held a forum on the divisive issue of student assignment at Cary Town Hall on Tuesday night.

The meeting was orderly and quick, absent the heated emotions that have become staples at recent full board meetings on the topic.

Some attendees thanked Goldman for breaking with the board majority last week and voting to pull the plug on a plan to put a community-based assignment policy into effect by creating a series of school assignment zones. The plan would have dropped socio-economic diversity as a criterion for student assignment.

“I just want to thank you very much for standing up in a very difficult situation and doing what you did,” attendee Mary Ann Meagher said.

Others at the meeting voted for Goldman last election and expressed feeling of betrayal by her recent departure from the board’s majority.

“Your double talk and empty promises serve no one but yourself,” parent Allison Backhouse said. “I think I speak for many when I ask, ‘What’s next?’”

Goldman said she still supports a neighborhood school model for Wake County, but said she changed her mind because too many people were being left out of the decision making process.

Goldman stressed to those in the crowd that whether they agree or disagree with her decisions, she valued their thoughts.

“It’s really important to hear the opinions and get the feedback from as many people as possible,” she said."

Notice how she held it on her own turf with overwhelming police presence and also note that there were people who were not happy at all with her. Also note how she is still not using logic but emotion, especially with that "It’s really important to hear the opinions and get the feedback from as many people as possible,” garbage, which translates into "let me gum up the works as much as possible to make me feel better. Well, Ms. Goldman, those widdle feelings of yours are gonna get even more hurt come election time. And your stunt of a meeting in Cary is also going to return sometime soon when you are going to have to answer to Raleigh parents, who are even more fed up than you realize.

In a related note, we have Raleigh mayor Charles Meeker, whose wife just happens to sit on the same board as Goldman and Tedesco, razzing the Republican majority:

"'m also pleased to be here with my wife, Anne McLaurin, who survived last night's school board meeting," Meeker said. "And I want you to know she was not called a 'prom queen,' whatever that means in New Jersey."

That's right, a sitting mayor who is also a Democrat decides to weigh in on something that is none of his business but at he kept it classy (sarcasm intended) and mature. Notice again how these people resort to name calling and useless razzing when they have nothing else to throw at you? For his part, Tedesco has apologized for the remark, the mark of a true gentleman. As it goes, Goldman's gumming of the works can only hurt the true victims of all this, namely the children. But as I have stated before, this is not really about the kids at all, it is about hurt liberal feelings. And electorally, Goldman might just get her butt handed to her.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

"he Wake County Board of Education voted to Tuesday night to immediately halt the progress toward student assignment based on zones.

Vice Chair Debra Goldman had been outspoken about her opposition to the use of zones as a basis for the school system's transition from a system that assigns students to balance a school's socio-economic makeup – a policy opponents said resulted in long bus rides – to one that focuses on keeping students closer to home in geographic zones.

Goldman claims the Student Assignment Committee, headed up by board member John Tedesco, has been unwilling to listen to input from her and others as they hash out a way to convert the county-wide school district.

When Tedesco tried to brief the board on his progress Tuesday, Goldman repeatedly challenged him, saying, "The only votes considered are the three of you. These decisions should be brought to the entire board."

You remember my entry, about poor little Debra Goldman whining? Well, she has now gone and thrown a monkey wrench into the progress made by voting against the direction the board was taking:

"At last week's meeting, committee members Tedesco and Chris Malone voted on some tweaks to the proposed assignment maps.

Carolyn Morrison, the other Board of Education member and third voting member on the committee voted against the change, saying she thought the committee was moving too fast.

"Each time you have a meeting, the temper in this county rises," Goldman said.

"You are building and building and building something on a foundation that has not been approved by the board, and that is what I have a problem with."

So, the will of the people is being denied once again by liberal bureaucrats who aren't even members of the committee doing the hard work to undo the damage that the diversity hags want to keep in place! And to make matters worse, the turncoat is a Republican!

Via WTVD:

"RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Board member Deborah Goldman announced Tuesday night she wants to get rid of the establishment of community schools based zones.

Goldman said she wants to keep the nodes or zones of school assignments the same, instead of adjusting them for the new community schools based plan.

She is now supporting the once-minority view on the subject.

Goldman said Monday she can't continue to support the neighborhood schools plan, because she feels like she's not getting a chance to shape it.

School Board Member John Tedesco has been pushing his vision for community based schools -- that everyone should have a base neighborhood assignment in their general zone.

Tedesco has said he wants parents to have a calendar choice for elementary schools within their zones and middle schools within their regions.

Goldman says her preference for "base schools" in the school assignment formula is not included in the board majority's plan. Prior to Goldman's decision, the plan for neighborhood schools had a majority of support, which included five Republicans.

The neighborhood school model allows students to go to schools that are closest to where they live instead of being bused to schools further away."

As stated in my entry yesterday, Goldman is opposing the plan because she is miffed that she is not part of the committee that is doing the work. To put it simpler, because I am not part of the committee then I am going to oppose the work, like a petulant little girl who is not having her way, much like a liberal.

And what is her reasoning aside being a whiner?

Again, from WRAL:

"Goldman got her say in a big way Tuesday when she proposed a resolution to immediately abandon the effort to establish zones, the favored method of Tedesco's committee.

She reiterated her commitment to community-based schools saying, "I am doing what's in my heart and in my conscience."

"This process is not working. The zone model is not working."

Goldman proposed that "any efforts to create a zone model will cease" and that schools stay with the current, board-approved, three-year student assignment plan in the interim.

Get that? No real logic here, just the repetition from someone not even part of the process! Once again, a RINO stops progress and shows it's true colors. Hopefully, this brief halt is nothing more than Goldman being a spoiled brat.

Update:

Want even more of Goldman's reasons? More than the crap above? and want to hear a closet leftist talk about moral values and funny how they trot their "values" out when they are screwing us over?
Via WTVD:

"Goldman says she wants to keep the nodes or zones of school assignments the same. She says her preference for "base schools" in the school assignment formula is not included in the board majority's plan. Prior to her decision, the plan for neighborhood schools had a majority of support, which included five Republicans.
Goldman is now on the side of the minority of the board. She introduced a new board directive, which passed 5 to 4, that puts the brakes on the move toward establishing a zone-based assignment model."I am doing what's in my heart and in my conscious," Goldman said. "We're still moving forward with a different approach."

Monday, October 04, 2010

"Debra Goldman, a member of the five-person block behind changes to policies in the Wake County Public School System, said Monday that she may vote against a student assignment plan if it does not provide each student with a base school.

A Student Assignment Committee has been meeting for months to hash out a way to convert the county-wide school district from a system that assigns students to balance a school's socio-economic makeup – a policy opponents said resulted in long bus rides – to one that focuses on keeping students closer to home in geographic zones.

Goldman, who voted with the majority to initiate the policy change, is not a member of that committee and feels shut out of planning, she told WRAL News."

Desperate to find any chink in the board, any at all, the usually sedate WRAL finds the one member of the board that is a dissenting voice in order to push the idea that the new policy is not the will of the people or in the best interests of the kids.

But wait just a minute! This woman is not part of the committee? So why are we even paying her any mind? Why she is whining that she feels "left out" (boo-hoo) and is just all broken up about it. Quick, give her an interview before she slips back into irrelevancy. Not only is she not part of the planning committee (but I repeat that deliberately) but she is not even part of the main board. Understand this clearly: She is "left out" of the planning because she is not part of the said planning committee!

So this whiny little woman is getting her 15 minutes of fame but that is all. Nothing more than a further irritation to the Board as it struggles to do it's job while confronting still further leftist shenanigans. And who is this person?

There she is, Debra Goldman. Looking somewhat lost and clueless, like many on the left. She feels left out of something that she is not part of to begin with. Can we please get back to frakking work now that Ms. Goldman has had her little pity party?

Here is her money quote, which I will give pride of place:
"We really need to listen more to people," she said. "We need to hear what they're saying. We need a to formulate a plan and really cohesively figure out where to go from here."

Oh god no, we aren't listening enough to the people, we aren't forming a circle and singing kum bye yaa and beating on drums! Quick, somebody get her a blanket and a warm glass of milk! Poor thing.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Via the News and Observer we read:
"The complaint, filed late Friday, is part of an effort to block the new school board majority from moving forward with assigning students under a neighborhood zone system that would replace a diversity-based plan. Joining the NAACP as parties in the complaint were the youth group N.C. HEAT (Heroes Emerging Among Teens) and Quinton White, a high school senior who was reassigned by the school board this year.

The complaint cites student reassignment changes made this year by the new board, the new assignment plan under development, and disproportionately harsh discipline of minority students.

It claims the Wake school system has violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits groups that receive federal dollars from engaging in discrimination. The Wake school system received nearly $78 million in federal funds last fiscal year.

The federal government rarely declares that groups are violating Title VI, said Wendy Parker, a Wake Forest University School of Law professor and expert on civil rights law. But judging by the national attention the Wake fight has received, Parker said it's likely that officials will investigate and put more of a spotlight on the situation."

As I have previously stated, this is yet more Leftist bullying and scare tactics designed to get the board to back down and stop their role in fixing the mess that our schools have become since liberals and their quislings have been running things. If they cannot get you to stop and obey them one way (like holding protests at your meetings) then they try another way (bringing in an out of area group that just happens to have the power to yank accreditation) or they go crying to the Feds, in this case the NAACP along with two quisling members of the board.
It is all the more interesting to note once again that leftists only care about the people's will when it suits them. Also, the complaint about "disproportionately harsh discipline of minority students" is more stupidity because some of the worst disciplinary problems stem from Black youth and their entitlement-driven parents. One last thing: Do you think they would be doing all this try and stop what the people have ordained, voted for and demanded if it wasn't a fair solution? Making students earn their grades and diplomas is what school is supposed to be about, not making them into good green citizens so geographically challenged that finding their own state on the map is impossible. And basing students closer to their homes will help parents whenever there are after school events or, in some case, detention so that they don't have to go halfway across town to fetch the student, burning gas and making more pollution. You'd think that the liberals would like that.
That is all and my following of this Wake County School Board mess continues.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

"Kenneth Bergman, general counsel for AdvancED, responded in a Sept. 17 letter that the organization had not reached any conclusions about the shift in student assignment criteria.

"We do have sufficient concerns that the actions of the board may negatively impact the educational opportunities for students of the schools that we accredit in Wake County," Bergman wrote.

The board's actions have created "substantive change" in area schools, he wrote, so AdvancED needs to review them.

"Unfortunately, the openly defiant nature of your correspondence makes engaging in the collegial process of accreditation services difficult," he wrote. "The board's refusal to comply with our requests is in direct violation of the AdvancED Policies and Procedures for Accredited Schools and constitutes grounds for dropping the accreditation of the Wake County schools."

If any of Wake County's 24 high schools were to lose their accreditation, it could reflect poorly on graduates who apply for higher education.

AdvancED gave the school board an Oct. 1 deadline to set up a meeting and turn over requested information.

"It is our hope that the board and district will take advantage of this extension and fully engage our organization in meeting the difficult challenges facing your schools," Bergman wrote."

Folks, this is nothing less than an ultimatum against Wake County and the will of the people. I noted yesterday that this is nothing more than bullying, but now it has morphed into nothing less than outright blackmail and intimidation. What the Left was not able to achieve with protests, disruptions, and other nonsense they are trying to achieve with this outright thuggery. The "defiant stance" of the board is correct in that here is an out of state group trying to re-impose the failed system that was in place. I say bring it on because Wake county will continue to fight for the children and the parents. And this particular fight is not the only one going on because we have school districts all over the country fighting against Leftists who see nothing wrong with indoctrinating our children with Islam or suspending a child for having candy. This is far from over.